Chicken is one of the most frequently recalled foods in the United States, and chicken recalls can involve enormous quantities — individual recalls of tens of millions of pounds are not uncommon. Salmonella and listeria outbreaks linked to recalled chicken have caused significant illness and death. If you have chicken in your refrigerator or freezer and are uncertain whether it is affected by a recall, check immediately. There are currently multiple food recalls tracked on Recall Tracker, including poultry products.
This page explains how to check your specific chicken product, which agency oversees poultry recalls, the most common recall reasons, and what steps to take if your product is affected.
Step 1: Find the establishment number.
USDA-inspected poultry products are required to display a USDA mark of inspection that includes a plant establishment number (EST. number). This is printed inside an oval USDA inspection mark on the package. The establishment number identifies where the product was processed, and is one of the key identifiers used in USDA recall notices.
Step 2: Find the sell-by or use-by date and lot code.
These are printed on the package label. For frozen chicken, the lot code may be stamped on a side panel or on the bag itself.
Step 3: Note the product name, size, and UPC.
USDA recalls are typically product-specific. A recall of boneless skinless chicken breasts does not automatically affect chicken tenders or ground chicken from the same facility.
Step 4: Search Recall Tracker.
Go to Recall Tracker and search your brand name or product type. Compare the establishment number, product name, and date codes against affected items in any recall notices.
Step 5: Use the barcode scanner.
The barcode scanner at /scan can scan the UPC on your chicken package to check it against the recall database.
Step 6: Set up brand alerts.
Visit brands and follow the chicken brand or manufacturer to receive automatic notifications for future recalls.
USDA (Food Safety and Inspection Service) has primary jurisdiction over raw and processed chicken and poultry products. FSIS operates under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act, which require continuous federal inspection of poultry processing facilities. USDA recalls are published on the FSIS website and include detailed product descriptions with establishment numbers, product codes, and affected date ranges. See the USDA agency page for more on how USDA recall authority works.
FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has jurisdiction over chicken products that fall outside USDA's direct coverage — including certain processed chicken products with more than a de minimis amount of non-meat ingredients, some dietary supplements containing chicken-derived ingredients, and chicken used as pet food.
Recall Tracker aggregates both agencies, so a single search on the platform covers both.
Salmonella is endemic in poultry flocks and is the leading cause of chicken-related illness in the United States. USDA's approach to salmonella in raw poultry has evolved over time — the agency does not classify salmonella in raw poultry as an adulterant in the same way it treats E. coli in ground beef, which means not all salmonella contamination events trigger formal recalls. However, when salmonella contamination is linked to a specific illness cluster, or when pathogen levels exceed regulatory thresholds, USDA issues recall notices.
Symptoms of salmonella infection include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, fever, and vomiting, beginning 6 hours to 6 days after consuming contaminated food. Most healthy adults recover within a week, but young children, elderly individuals, and immunocompromised people can develop severe illness requiring hospitalization.
Listeria recalls are most common in ready-to-eat (RTE) chicken products — cooked rotisserie chicken, deli-sliced chicken breast, pre-cooked chicken strips, and similar products that consumers eat without further cooking. Because listeria is killed by heat, it enters RTE chicken products through post-cooking contamination — contact with contaminated surfaces, equipment, or air in the packaging environment.
Listeria is especially dangerous for pregnant women, newborns, adults over 65, and immunocompromised individuals. RTE chicken listeria recalls are treated with the highest urgency because there is no kill step between the consumer and the pathogen.
Chicken recalls have addressed products containing metal fragments from processing equipment, bone splinters, and plastic or rubber pieces. Bone fragment recalls are particularly common in mechanically separated chicken and in products made with automated deboning equipment. Foreign material can cause choking, dental damage, or internal injuries.
Chicken products may be recalled when the label fails to declare an allergen present in the product — such as wheat in a breaded chicken product that was marketed as gluten-free — or when the product description does not accurately reflect the contents. Misbranding recalls also occur when products are processed in a facility that is not federally inspected, violating USDA requirements.
USDA has issued recalls for chicken contaminated with specific strains of salmonella, particularly Salmonella Infantis and multi-drug-resistant Salmonella, that are associated with illness clusters. These recalls reflect a more targeted approach to strain-specific outbreak response.
Stop using it immediately. Remove the package from your refrigerator or freezer. Do not cook and eat it — cooking does not make recalled chicken safe in all circumstances, particularly for ready-to-eat products where the contamination issue may be separate from cooking temperature.
Check everyone who ate it recently. Identify household members who may have eaten the chicken and when. Note any gastrointestinal symptoms in the days following consumption.
Seek medical care if symptomatic. Diarrhea with blood, high fever, prolonged vomiting, or signs of dehydration are indications to seek medical care. For listeria concerns involving pregnant women or immunocompromised individuals, contact a healthcare provider even without symptoms.
Keep the packaging. Save the package with the establishment number, product name, sell-by date, and UPC for a refund and for any medical provider you contact.
Contact the manufacturer or retailer. USDA chicken recalls typically result in full refunds at the point of purchase. Contact the manufacturer or return the product to the store where you bought it.
Report illness. Report illness to your state health department and to the USDA FSIS at usda.gov. Outbreak investigations depend on consumer reports to identify the full scope of contamination.
Not necessarily. For raw chicken recalls involving salmonella or other pathogens, cooking chicken to 165°F (74°C) internal temperature does kill these bacteria. However, USDA still advises against consuming recalled chicken because of the possibility of cross-contamination in your kitchen, the risk of toxins produced by some bacteria that survive cooking, and the difficulty of ensuring every part of a product reaches the required temperature. For ready-to-eat chicken recalls, cooking is not a reliable kill step because contamination may occur post-processing in ways that cannot be undone by reheating.
The establishment number is printed inside the USDA inspection mark — a small oval or shield on the label. It begins with "EST." followed by a number. This number identifies the specific processing facility and is a key identifier in USDA recall notices. Not all packaging prominently displays this, so check the back label, the side panel, or near the barcode.
Possibly. Store-brand chicken is often produced by large contract processors that supply multiple retailers under different labels. If the recall identifies a specific establishment number (EST. number) and your store-brand product bears the same establishment number, it may be affected regardless of the brand name. Check the EST. number on your package against the recall notice.
Dispose of it. Freezing does not kill salmonella, listeria, or other pathogens. Recalled chicken that has been frozen remains unsafe and should be discarded even if it has been in the freezer for an extended period. Double-bag it before placing it in the trash.
Search all food recalls to check your specific chicken product, and browse food brands to set up automatic alerts. You can also view recall statistics by category to understand trends in poultry safety over time. As of {{CURRENT_DATE}}, Recall Tracker is actively monitoring recalls from USDA, FDA, and seven additional agencies.
Start by checking the brand name, establishment number, lot code, and any use-by or freeze-by date on the package against official recall notices. You can use RecallTracker’s barcode scanner at /scan for a fast first check, then confirm details through brand pages at /brands if the package is still in your fridge or freezer. If the package is gone, matching the product type, date range, and store where you bought it can still help narrow it down.
Chicken is often recalled for salmonella or listeria contamination, but recalls also happen for foreign material such as metal or plastic, undeclared allergens in seasoned products, and misbranding. Raw poultry recalls are usually handled by USDA FSIS, while some ready-to-eat chicken products may also involve FDA oversight depending on the product. RecallTracker’s /statistics page helps you see which hazards show up most often and which brands have had repeated recall activity.
If chicken has been recalled, the safest advice is usually not to eat it and to follow the disposal or return instructions in the recall notice. Proper cooking can reduce the risk from some bacteria, but it does not fix every recall issue, including foreign material, packaging defects, or mislabeled ingredients. If you want ongoing alerts for products you buy often, RecallTracker Premium at /pricing is built for that kind of monitoring.
If you already ate it, monitor for symptoms such as fever, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach cramps, or signs of dehydration, especially in children, older adults, pregnant people, and anyone with a weakened immune system. Keep the packaging if you still have it, because the lot code and establishment number can matter if a doctor or health department asks for details. You can also search the brand at /brands to confirm whether the recall matches the exact product you ate.
Yes. Recalls can involve raw chicken breasts, nuggets, strips, patties, stuffed chicken, deli meat, canned chicken, and fully cooked refrigerated or frozen products. Freezing does not make a recalled product safe, because bacteria can survive freezing and non-bacterial recall hazards are unchanged. If you stock up in bulk, scanning items at /scan and checking trend data at /statistics can help catch products that stay in home freezers for months.